12.5.2 Annual and change-driven scope confirmation

The entity must document its PCI DSS scope and confirm it at least once every 12 months, plus whenever the in-scope environment changes significantly. The scoping validation must at minimum: identify all data flows across payment stages (for instance authorisation, capture, settlement, chargebacks, refunds) and every acceptance channel (for instance card-present, card-not-present, e-commerce); update all data-flow diagrams under Requirement 1.2.4; identify every place where account data is held, processed or sent, including places outside the current CDE, applications handling CHD, data transmitted across networks and systems, and backups of files; identify all components in, connected to, or able to affect the CDE; identify all segmentation controls and the environments segmented from the CDE, with justification for out-of-scope environments; identify all third-party connections with CDE access; and confirm all these items are included in scope. Applicability: this is the entity's own confirmation and is separate from, and not replaced by, the assessor's scoping check during the annual assessment. Objective under the customized approach: scope is checked periodically and after significant change through thorough analysis and suitable technical measures.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.5.2. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open PCI DSS v4.0.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.0.1 is the active version; 4.0 has been retired. Appendix A1 applies only to multi-tenant service providers, A2 only to card-present POS POI terminals that still use SSL or early TLS, and A3 only when a payment brand or acquirer requires it. Which requirements apply to you follows your validation type.